Seagull Nebula Depicted in Amazing Colors

The beautiful gas cloud Sharpless 2-292, informally known as the Seagull Nebula, appears in all of its splendor in this new image produced by the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope's Wide Field Imager (WFI).

The instrument is located at the La Silla Observatory, which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates in the Chilean Andes. Astronomers working at this facility selected this particular target because nebulae are always a sight to behold.

This particular formation is called the Seagull Nebula because (in the opinion of the folks who named it) it resembles the head of the marine bird. At its core lies a very young, very hot star, which produced massive amounts of radiations.

It's these radiations that ionized the gas around the star, producing the amazing colors. The stellar object is designated HD 53367, astronomers say.